Parjanya was recently invited by the Inner Wheel Club of Pune, as part of its 'Green Initiative' project, to spread awareness of Climate issues among school going children aged between 13 - 16 years.
The first seminar was held on Saturday 16 Aug 14, at Hutatma Balveer Shirishkumar school in Pune. My wife Shubhada, and I, were welcomed by Mrs Jadhav (Headmistress) and Mrs Rathi (Chair Person, Inner Wheel Club, Pune City). Mrs Jadhav was kind enough to give us a tour of the school, and explain the activities carried out by students.
About 200 Students, School Staff & members of Inner Wheel Club attended the seminar. I started off with giving an explanation of what Climate Change was, and how it affected our daily needs of resources like air, water and food. I gave them details of how our economic activities pollute these resources, which, in turn, affect our health negatively. They were shocked to learn that Pune was amongst the most polluted cities in India, and that increasingly, more Pune-ites are suffering from respiratory diseases due to increased air pollution.
As we all know, Pune has been facing water shortages for last few years, especially in the summer months. The importance of Rain Water Harvesting was explained to the students. The status of Pune city surface water was explained and I brought to the notice of all, that ALL Pune rivers have a water quality of an open sewage gutter. The depleting status of ground water due to non-recharging of ground water aquifers was a revelation to some of the attendees.
The potential of rain water in Pune was explained to students. In Pune 1000 sq ft of roof top area receives about 70000 liters of rainfall. Students were then told how RWH system can be implemented to recharge ground water table, and also to tide over the water crisis. Success stories of RWH projects in Pune were illustrated to all.
As it was interactive presentation, students asked us many questions about CO2 emissions due to human activities, about the difference between Rain Water Harvesting & Rain Water Storage etc. All the students promised to take all necessary steps to save rain water, conserve use of water, to do audit of school water usage.
This was our first presentation after the Climate Reality Leadership seminar in Melbourne, Australia. It is heartening to know that the younger generation is a lot more interested in these issues, and I hope they will succeed in educating others, spreading the message and, above all, fixing the problems our generation created.
The first seminar was held on Saturday 16 Aug 14, at Hutatma Balveer Shirishkumar school in Pune. My wife Shubhada, and I, were welcomed by Mrs Jadhav (Headmistress) and Mrs Rathi (Chair Person, Inner Wheel Club, Pune City). Mrs Jadhav was kind enough to give us a tour of the school, and explain the activities carried out by students. About 200 Students, School Staff & members of Inner Wheel Club attended the seminar. I started off with giving an explanation of what Climate Change was, and how it affected our daily needs of resources like air, water and food. I gave them details of how our economic activities pollute these resources, which, in turn, affect our health negatively. They were shocked to learn that Pune was amongst the most polluted cities in India, and that increasingly, more Pune-ites are suffering from respiratory diseases due to increased air pollution.As we all know, Pune has been facing water shortages for last few years, especially in the summer months. The importance of Rain Water Harvesting was explained to the students. The status of Pune city surface water was explained and I brought to the notice of all, that ALL Pune rivers have a water quality of an open sewage gutter. The depleting status of ground water due to non-recharging of ground water aquifers was a revelation to some of the attendees.
The potential of rain water in Pune was explained to students. In Pune 1000 sq ft of roof top area receives about 70000 liters of rainfall. Students were then told how RWH system can be implemented to recharge ground water table, and also to tide over the water crisis. Success stories of RWH projects in Pune were illustrated to all.
As it was interactive presentation, students asked us many questions about CO2 emissions due to human activities, about the difference between Rain Water Harvesting & Rain Water Storage etc. All the students promised to take all necessary steps to save rain water, conserve use of water, to do audit of school water usage.
This was our first presentation after the Climate Reality Leadership seminar in Melbourne, Australia. It is heartening to know that the younger generation is a lot more interested in these issues, and I hope they will succeed in educating others, spreading the message and, above all, fixing the problems our generation created.
No comments:
Post a Comment